A variety of garments are known by which particular areas of the body—breasts, scrotum, feet, legs, spine, etc.—can be supported during activities. However, largely all of these garments are not configurable to provide support to a wide range of sizes. Instead, a range of garments must be made available to accommodate different sizes. While such garments may provide modesty protection for the body part being supported, such protection is largely limited to only that body part.
Patients in hospitals, clinics, or doctors' offices are often provided with a garment to help protect their privacy and modesty during medical procedures such as treatments, tests or examinations. Such garments are typically shapeless, one-size-fits all drapes, the extent to which they cover the legs of the wearer depends on the height of the wearer. These drapes—commonly called gowns—open their entire vertical length. They can be worn such that the opening is along the front of the wearer or the back of the wearer. The opening is closable by a string—tieable such as by knotting the string—and/or through the use of snaps. The string tie ensures very little in the way of modesty protection since only the tied portion of the gown is typically closed. The snaps are often spaced such that large areas are easily exposed.
Medical procedures such as examinations often require that some part of the patient's body be exposed. The patient often seeks to keep the other parts of the body covered. For example, during a cardiac examination, a patient is usually subjected to frequent inspections of the chest area. Examples of cardiac examinations include an electrocardiogram test (“ECG” or “EKG”), echocardiogram test, or exercise stress test. During an electrocardiogram test, typically a nurse or technician places soft, sticky patches that form electrodes to the skin of the patient's chest, arms, and legs to monitor the heart's electrical activity from many angles to detect any weakness. An echocardiogram test sends ultrasound waves into the chest to create moving pictures of the heart to detect any irregularities. An exercise stress test, sometimes called a treadmill test, may further include an electrocardiogram test and monitors heart rate, breathing and blood pressure for any abnormalities during and after exercise.
During procedures that require the patient to move, many additional disadvantages, particularly for women, are associated with conventional gowns. Again, conventional gowns are largely only drapes—they fail to provide any support to portions of the body of the patient. The lack of support may cause pain and discomfort during those procedures that require exercise. Additionally, the pain and discomfort associated with the exercise may be mistakenly perceived as chest pain or create difficulty in discerning the intensity or location of any chest pain.
During medical procedures, the healthcare professional may need access to the chest to perform treatments, tests or examinations including the use of various medical procedure equipment. For example, during an electrocardiogram test a healthcare professional needs to access the chest to attach the electrodes. These include electrode wires. During an echocardiogram test, the patient is positioned on his or her side (usually the left side) to obtain pictures or images of the heart using an imaging device. Typically, these pictures or images must be obtained within a designated time frame such as 60-90 seconds post-test. Therefore, access to the chest must be quick and easy to work within this designated time frame.
Additionally, gowns failing to provide support to the body parts may cause displacement or even loss of connectivity of medical procedure equipment, for example, one or more electrodes in an electrocardiogram test or stress test. Displacement or loss of connectivity of medical procedure equipment may produce falsified results including, for example, artifacts on the imaging device.
It is conceivable that a patient may require immediate attention for unanticipated complications. When complications occur, healthcare professionals may need to remove the gown quickly and easily to access the chest to promptly administer a medical procedure such as defibrillation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (“CPR”), surgery, or medication.
Many of the presently available gowns closeable by strings that are tied together can become knotted or tangled, thus preventing the healthcare professional from quickly and easily accessing the chest of the patient. Much valuable time is wasted when a healthcare professional struggles with knotted or tangled strings such as when the patient's heart rate must be obtained immediately after a treadmill test or such as when pictures or images must be obtained immediately after an echocardiogram test.
Additionally, one-size-fits-all gowns fail to sufficiently cover a woman with larger breasts. Although plus size gowns are available, these tend to be too long requiring a healthcare practitioner to move or lift excess material from the bottom making it difficult to access the patient's chest in a timely manner.
There is a demand for a garment that provides support and protection during a range of activities. More specifically, there is a demand for a patient gown that supports and protects the chest including breasts of a woman of any size, is quickly and easily removable, and maintains privacy and modesty of the patient. The present invention satisfies this demand.